- Instagram: @wagenheim.ottensen
- Donate: betterplace.org
Wagenheim
Wagenheim Initiative – mobile spaces for more humanity
The Wagenheim Initiative is a collaboration of volunteers, neighborhood cultural centers, schools, and independent social-work organizations. It organizes financing and builds mobile living spaces for people affected by housing hardship. Our Wagenheime (mobile huts) are designed as mobile rest and retreat spaces, offering shelter to those in need during the night and in cold weather. Once completed, they are handed over to social institutions that handle placement and supervision. The offering is intended as a low-threshold entry point toward ending homelessness.
The project was awarded the HASPA Sustainability Prize 2025.
The first Wagenheim was completed and handed over in January 2025. The second followed in July 2026. Wagenheim 2.0 now stands in Hamburg-Altona at the Catholic school on Eulenstraße. The initiative comes from Kolbenwerk Altona.
News
- August 202622.9. Große EröffnungsfeierWagenheim featuring Spaces of Opportunity
16-20 Uhr @ Motte/Altona
How It All Began
Inspired by a YouTube report about a young man (Elvis Summers) from Los Angeles who builds rolling shelters to provide for homeless people, a group of craftsmen conceived the idea to do something similar in light of the pressing issues in our neighborhood. We quickly encountered difficulties.
We were told that this would be a political issue, and that Hamburg’s caravan law (HWG) would oppose our plans. It became clear that we needed a larger network of cooperating partners to realize the project together with socio-cultural partners and sponsors.
Under Section 2(2) of the Hamburg Caravan Law (HWG), caravan sites can generally be established as temporary transitional spaces to provide people living in caravans in Hamburg with temporary accommodation until they are placed in permanent housing. A practical example is the initiative led by Hamburg’s Social Senator Melanie Leonhard.
The structural implementation finally became feasible after we formed a collaboration with the wood construction student start-up of the Stadtteilschule in Rissen. And so the project began.
Building plans
Spaces of Opportunity
Our Wagenheime are intended to function integratively as part of the overall concept “Spaces of Opportunity.” “Spaces of Opportunity” are fields of experimentation in which we simultaneously create sociocultural and sustainability spaces. By co-designing, we influence our surroundings and our lived reality at the same time. We want to develop ideas on how urban structures can become more livable and sustainable for a public-focused urban development—through, for example, temporary interim use of brownfields, building gaps, and urban obsolescence spaces.
In these interim spaces, we plan creative and connective participatory actions, such as tiny-house workshops or urban gardening. Together we will erect additional tiny houses with the help of interested residents and, where applicable, future users. We also invite other initiatives to participate.
Involved projects could come from the areas of art and culture, sport and movement, or everyday culture such as gardening or cooking.
Cooperation partners
- Die Motte e.V.
- Schrödingers e.V.
- Quadriga gGmbH
- Stadtteilschule Rissen
Supporters
- Hamburger Spendenparlament
- PSD Bank Nord
- HASPA
- Töpfer-Stiftung
- Die Grünen Hamburg
- Behörde für Arbeit, Soziales, Familie und Integration
- Vlemmix - Trailerbau
Links
Frequently asked questions
- What is Wagenheim?
- Wagenheim is a hands-on initiative from Hamburg-Altona. It finances and builds mobile tiny houses – shelters on wheels – for people affected by homelessness. Completed Wagenheime are handed to social organisations. The project received the HASPA Sustainability Prize 2025.
- Where is Wagenheim based?
- Wagenheim comes from Kolbenwerk in Hamburg-Altona, with partners such as Die Motte e.V. and Stadtteilschule Rissen. The first Wagenheim was completed in January 2025. The second now stands at the Catholic school on Eulenstraße in Altona.
- How can I support Wagenheim?
- You can donate via betterplace.org, follow @wagenheim.ottensen on Instagram, write to us through the contact form, or help improve the Almende Grounds petition for common-good interim use of vacant urban land.
- What is Spaces of Opportunity?
- Spaces of Opportunity is the wider concept around Wagenheim: experimental spaces for sociocultural and sustainable urban development, for example through temporary use of brownfields, building gaps, tiny-house workshops, and urban gardening.
- Can I download tiny-house building plans?
- Yes. The Building Plans section on this site offers construction drawings and material lists for the small house on a trailer and the tiny-house load-bearing structure, free to download.
